Girl Power? Investment Trends for Female Entrepreneurs on Shark Tank (US)

Final Project
Data Science 1 with R (STAT 301-1)

Author

Allison Kane

Published

December 5, 2023

Introduction

Throughout the corporate sector, female entrepreneurs tend to face greater barriers and often have their businesses undervalued and underrepresented. Many female entrepreneurs find it difficult to break into male-dominated industries, to obtain similar investments to their male counterparts, and to receive the same respect as male entrepreneurs. Additionally, industries with greater representations of women are often viewed as less lucrative, less serious and less deserving of investment.

The reality television show Shark Tank (US) broadcasts real-time deals being made between entrepreneurs pitching their businesses to a panel of investors, called sharks. The show, having run for over a decade, provides a glimpse into the business world for viewers and a wealth of information about how entrepreneurs– both male and female– are treated by investors.

In this EDA, I intend to find if there are differences between the investment and pitching trends of female entrepreneurs, male entrepreneurs, and sharks. Specifically, I aim to determine if female entrepreneurs are represented as often as male entrepreneurs in the show and which industries featured on the show tend to attract more female entrepreneurs (female-dominated industries). Additionally, I intend to determine if female entrepreneurs ask for similar amounts of investment, valuation, and equity in their businesses as male entrepreneurs, if female entrepreneurs receive investment as often as male entrepreneurs, and if that investment aligns with their initial demands (i.e. quality of investment). Finally, I intend to determine which sharks invest in female entrepreneurs more often and which sharks tend to invest more in female-dominated industries.

Data overview & quality

A concise high level overview of the dataset(s) being explored. Description of the dataset(s) that covers basics: size, number of observations, number, of variables, variable types, and discussion of any quality issues (especially missingness and how it may impact the analysis). Highlight any important data collection issues or concerns. If over-technical, but important, then place technical details in Appendix: technical info.

Demographics

Figure 1: Gender Ratios

Women are often underrepresented in positions of authority, especially as entrepreneurs. In Figure 1 Shark Tank (US) seasons 1-14, it is clear that women-led businesses are outnumbered by male-led businesses. Mixed gender entrepreneur teams are represented even less. This gender imbalance might limit viewers’ exposure to female entrepreneurs and hinder their acceptance of women in positions of power, especially in business.

Figure 2: Businesses Represented

In Figure 2, the industries most represented include Food/Beverage, Fashion/Beauty, and Lifestyle/Home. Some of these businesses are typically associated with women, like Fashion/Beauty, but representation in leadership roles is rarely dominated by women.

Figure 3: Industries Represented with Female Entrepreneurs

In Figure 3, Industries with female entrepreneurs represented on shark tank (US) seasons 1-14 show that women are most involved in Food/Beverage, Fashion/Beauty, Children/Education and Lifestyle/Home industries. Three industries do not have any female-run businesses represented: Automotive, Electronics, Liquor/Alcohol.

Figure 4: Industry Leadership Gender Representation

Figure 4 indicates that only one industry on Shark Tank (US) has more female-led businesses represented than male or mixed team led businesses: children/education. All other industries have a greater representation of male entrepreneurs than female entrepeneurs and mixed teams. Representation of female entrepeneurs is better in Fashion/Beauty, Health/Wellness and Pet Products industries, but male-entrepeneurs are still represented more often. Representation of female entrepreneurs is the worst in the Automotive, Electronics and Liquor/Alcohol industries. In particular, Liquor/Alcohol does not have any female-led or mixed-team led businesses represented at all.

The bias in gender-representation in Shark Tank (US) could have additional effects, including how frequently deals are made for different genders, the quality of the deal, and how individual sharks behave towards different genders of entrepeneurs.

Conclusions

State conclusions or insights. Were you surprised by things you found or were they as expected? Why? This is a great place for future work, new research questions, and next steps.

According to this analysis, there are some differences in the experience of female and male entrepreneurs on Shark Tank (US) seasons 1-14.

Follow-up studies may be done to see how these trends change over time. Perhaps in the years the show has been on the air the treatment of female entrepreneurs has changed or the investment trends of sharks has changed. Additionally, I might conduct further study to see if a male partner improves female entrepreneur investment outcomes and if a female partner worsens male entrepreneur investment outcomes.

References

Thirumani, S., Rehman, A.U., and Molagoda, J., 2023, Shark Tank US dataset, https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/thirumani/shark-tank-us-dataset

Appendix: Extra Explorations